Pupils get the lowdown
on trash and recycling
By Nancy McGillicuddy,The Daily Reflector
When Shannon Dupree discovered her Chapel Hill Starter
jacket was made out of plastic bottles, the 9-year-old
pierced its lining with red safety scissors and pulled
out the white cushy polyester filling with her index finger.
"I wanted to see, I was curious," said Dupree, a student
at Eastern Elementary School in Greenville.
Dupree and her classmates in Amy Bass's fourth-grade
class learned Wednesday about the benefits of recycling,
including what products can come from old bottles, cans
and glass bottles.
Polyester, a clothing material made from recycled plastic,
is just one example of a recycled material, said Pitt
County's recycling coordinator, Paula Clark, who spoke
to the class. Clark began outreach services to elementary
and middle schools last year.
Clark's lesson also taught the children about what items
residents can recycle in Pitt County at the Eastern Carolina
Vocation Center, including two types of plastics, glass,
newspapers, paperboard, aluminum and tin.
While passing out various recyclable items to the class,
Clark showed the students how to look for signs a product
is recycled or recyclable.
Usually the item will contain a triangle with a number
to indicate what type of recyclable material it is, she
said.
Some items are more obvious.
Clark asked one child how he knew the aluminium Diet
Coke can he was holding is recyclable.
"It says please recycle," he said, looking up from the
can.
Correct.
"It's even asking you, the can's begging you —
please recycle me," Clark said.
There is a misconception that recycled goods are not
as good as new products, Clark said while walking around
the room with two identical tubes filled with green and
white beads of plastic. One contained recycled material
and the other new material.
Clark said there is little difference in the beads and
that products made from each are equally as good. Products
like polyester.
"It looks great. It feels great. It is great," she said.
Some students in the class said their parents teach
them to recycle at home.
John Whitehurst, 9, and Emma Ferry, 9, said they reuse
glass jars to store food and water.
"We reuse peanut butter bottles to store food and stuff
so it won't get spoiled," Whitehurst said.
The glass peanut butter jar is also a popular recyclable
in the Ferry household where cookies, and sometimes water,
are stored for later consumption.
"We put water in it in case the power goes out," Ferry
said.
